Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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2.6 Conclusion and summary of potential research issues Although there is little in the way of up to date systematic evidence gathered since the PAP was introduced, there is some older evidence to confirm that an appreciable proportion of associations have, in the recent past, made some use of Ground 8 . Given the current guidance and policy thinking around rent arrears management, some commentators are concerned about the appropriateness of its use . An amendment introduced in the House of Lords during the passage of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, although ultimately withdrawn, sought to remove the power for Ground 8 to be used by HAs . The discussion included the following observations from Baroness Andrews: “Given the range of stakeholder views on the subject, it is important that any changes to legislation – which would be profound – are made on the full understanding of current practice and the effects that those changes would have . […] There is a more subtle point about current practice . I understand that some of the [HAs] that use Ground 8 do so precisely in order to resolve 101 House of Lords Hansard, 23 June 2008, Column GC518 . 40 their rent arrears problems . If those [HAs] had to rely on discretionary grounds alone, they might seek proceedings for possession much earlier to prevent the level of rent arrears from becoming unmanageable . […] By contrast, the mandatory nature of Ground 8 gives the [HAs] greater confidence to hold back formal proceedings until as late as possible in order that they may spend time working with tenants and trying to resolve the problem .” 101 Given the lack of recent evidence to demonstrate whether or not such a scenario is correct, it was appropriate and timely for further research to be conducted (as ministers themselves made clear in Parliament) . From the discussion above, the following points are highlighted as particularly relevant for this study: (a) Rent arrears and the use of possession actions: incidence and trends Of particular interest would be the relationship between the numbers of possession actions and HA size, type, geographical location, ethnicity of tenants, HB performance . Changes over time in arrears levels and use of the courts would enable
some comment on the effect of the PAP, if this information were available, as would rent collection rates and their association (or not) with possession actions . NSP conversion rates (to OPOs) might be established from HA internal data . (b) On regulation • HA perceptions of how regulation and guidance shapes policy and practice • Adherence to the PAP • Awareness of staff of guidance and PAP • Awareness of changes in the law on SPOs and PPOs • Awareness of Human Rights Act issues (c) Housing management • Collection structures (generic/specialist) and change over time • Rent collection methods • Automation • Local links with associated agencies (HB offices, advice agencies, support services for vulnerable general needs tenants) and how these relate to rent management practices • Rent arrears policy, particularly around cut off points, officer discretion, embeddedness of good practice, whether Ground 8 is permitted, whether board approval and tenant consultation gained, on pursuing tenants with outstanding HB claims, conformity with PAP etc • Staff knowledge of, and adherence to, policy and practice • What is it about specific cases that lead to possession action and, more particularly, to use of Ground 8? (d) Courts • HA perceptions of local courts • District judges’ perceptions and experience of local HAs • DJs’ experience of Ground 8, including changes over time • Application of the PAP by the court, including use of sanctions • Availability and signposting of local advice services pre-court, at court and post-court Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 41
Page 1 and 2: Rent arrears management practices i
Page 3 and 4: Contents Executive summary . . . .
Page 5 and 6: Executive summary Introduction This
Page 7 and 8: Key underlying factors were said to
Page 9 and 10: could, in part, reflect the growing
Page 11 and 12: overpayments and suspensions were p
Page 13 and 14: Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Backgrou
Page 15 and 16: arrears management and related aspe
Page 17 and 18: “… there may occasionally be ci
Page 19 and 20: under Article 8 of the Convention,
Page 21 and 22: y HAs . 37 The Circular informed as
Page 23 and 24: Pre-action protocol for possession
Page 25 and 26: The purpose of these interviews was
Page 27 and 28: Table 1.1 - Case Study HAs Organisa
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 2 Rent arrears management p
Page 31 and 32: Pawson et al’s study found that 9
Page 33 and 34: 2.3 Rent arrears management practic
Page 35 and 36: this with any certainty . 69 Howeve
Page 37 and 38: authority can also lead to a lack o
Page 39 and 40: 2.5 The use of Ground 8 Although th
Page 41: In the Hunter et al study, 97 which
Page 45 and 46: • Ground 8 provided certainty to
Page 47 and 48: There was a difference of opinion a
Page 49 and 50: 3.3 The use of Ground 8 Whereas ans
Page 51 and 52: do so early enough, or at all . Cla
Page 53 and 54: Chapter 4 Rent collection and arrea
Page 55 and 56: 4.3 Housing Benefit service perform
Page 57 and 58: Table 4.3 - Housing association evi
Page 59 and 60: As shown in Figure 4 .1, CORE data
Page 61 and 62: were collected for landlords with l
Page 63 and 64: Most associations report initiating
Page 65 and 66: 5.2 Organisation of rent arrears ma
Page 67 and 68: Table 5.2 - Primary structure of ar
Page 69 and 70: Table 5.3 - Recent changes in organ
Page 71 and 72: Table 5.6 - Staff training provisio
Page 73 and 74: Within the transfer landlord cohort
Page 75 and 76: • Where arrears were accrued befo
Page 77 and 78: Table 5.9 - Estimated percentage of
Page 79 and 80: elatively high response rate achiev
Page 81 and 82: The survey sought to collect statis
Page 83 and 84: Ground 8 actions typically accounte
Page 85 and 86: How is the scale of Ground 8 use ch
Page 87 and 88: already routinely exercising the ac
Page 89 and 90: Chapter 6 Case study evidence Chapt
Page 91 and 92: Annex 2 outlines our method, includ
Page 93 and 94:
a couple of weeks to three months)
Page 95 and 96:
to officers and policies . Officers
Page 97 and 98:
RM put it, “caused uproar from te
Page 99 and 100:
preferred form of the organisation
Page 101 and 102:
tenant contacts are now recorded on
Page 103 and 104:
as a result, would make an order un
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use - in these cases, it is viewed
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g) The tenant perspective In each c
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Ground 8 was generally to scrutinis
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Ground 8 was said to be used as a
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The key stakeholders regarded the P
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ule it would not be used where HB w
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Table A1.1 - Evicted households by
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uncontactable as a result) . Where
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Just under half of all cases in the
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Annex 2 Case study HA selection Our
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Annex 3 Profile of case study housi
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However, after a review across its
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as developing joint working with th
Page 131 and 132:
Annex 4 Case study topic guides HA
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19. What has been your recent exper
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12. How are your tenants helped wit
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9. If RSLs rely on Ground 8, what i
Page 139 and 140:
4 Tenant employment circumstances (
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10 Value (£) of arrears at defined
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Our offices Maple House 149 Tottenh
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